Union Minister of Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu who inaugurated Chennai’s underground metro today, said that Centre had handed over Rs 1083.34 crore to Tamil Nadu. The funds have been given under three schemes – AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation), Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana. Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation. Where PMAYH was implemented to provide assistance to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana aims at helping the under privilaged by providing skill training and AMRUT scheme includes ensuring better infrastructure with sewerage networks and water supply to cities.

He further said that it will form a mandatory requirement for all the new metro projects in the country.Naidu also said that there are standardised specifications of rolling stock and signalling systems of Metro Rail for promoting and indigenisation. Naidu also said that in order to increase the connectivity, the centre is planning to implement the ‘green urban mobility’ scheme to improve the travel facilities in cities.

Talking about the Chennai Underground Metro rail, Naidu said that 28 kms of a total length of 45 kms in Phase 1 of the project will now be operational. The Union Minister further said that around 529 kms are presently under construction in cities including New Delhi, Gurgaon, Chennai, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Kolkata and Mumbai.

The underground stretch of the Chennai metro is part of a Rs 14,000 crore project. The Chennai Metro Rail Corporation Limited has two elevated stretches. The stretches run from Koyambedu to St Thomas and Chennai Airport to Little Mount. Including the metro rail which was inaugurated today, Chennai now has three operational metro lines. The new stretch has screen doors in all seven metro stations, according to NDTV.